Baptism
What is Baptism?
In baptism, you as parents are: thanking God for his gift of life, making a decision to start your child on the journey of faith and asking for the Church's support.
For your child, baptism marks the start of a journey of faith, which involves turning away from all that is evil, turning towards Christ and becoming a member of the local and worldwide Christian family.
Baptism is a 'sacrament' a visible sign of God's love. In baptism, we are thanking God for his gift of life and publicly acknowledging his love. We are acknowledging that we all need to turn away from selfishness and evil and to accept God’s offer of a new start.
For a baptism form, please contact Fr Jim Rosenthal email: christusrex9@gmail.com or tel: 07742856149
What happens during the service?
Your child's baptism will normally take place after the main Sunday service (usually 12.15pm on the third Sunday of the month). You will be invited with your close family to come on the first Sunday of the month to the 10am service to have your child presented and anointed with holy oil in preparation for the baptism later that month. This is so that your child can be seen to be joining the family of the Church and be welcomed into membership.
The priest will make sure you know where to sit and when you need to move. Some parts of the service will be for the whole congregation to join in, some will be for you and the godparents. Part of the baptism service will normally take place at the front of the church, and for the baptism itself, parents and godparents are invited by the priest to gather around the font. (The font is a large bowl, containing the water for baptism.)
The priest will ask the parents and godparents to make declarations on behalf of the child. Once the child is baptised you will receive a certificate and baptism candle as a reminder of the gift of new life in Jesus.
There is time for photographs after the service.
The Church of England has its own website for baptism information,
www.churchofenglandchristenings.org